Incarceration history is associated with HIV infection among community-recruited people who inject drugs in Europe: A propensity-score matched analysis of cross-sectional studies.

Aims: We measured the association between a history of incarceration and HIV positivity among people who inject drugs (PWID) across Europe.

Design, Setting And Participants: This was a cross-sectional, multi-site, multi-year propensity-score matched analysis conducted in Europe. Participants comprised community-recruited PWID who reported a recent injection (within the last 12 months).

The uptake of foil from needle and syringe provision services and its role in smoking or snorting heroin among people who inject drugs in Scotland.

Background: In the UK, legislation was implemented in 2014 allowing needle and syringe provision (NSP) services to offer foil to people who inject drugs (PWID) to encourage smoking rather than injecting. This paper aims to examine the association between foil uptake and smoking or snorting heroin among PWID. This is the first large scale national study to examine foil uptake and smoking or snorting heroin among PWID post legislative change.

Re-emergence of HIV related to injecting drug use despite a comprehensive harm reduction environment: a cross-sectional analysis.

Background: In 2015, an outbreak of HIV was identified among people who inject drugs (PWID) in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC) area of Scotland, an area which distributes more than 1 million needles and syringes per year. This is the largest such incident in the UK for 30 years. Here, we provide an epidemiological analysis of the impact of the outbreak on HIV prevalence trends in the population and the individual and environmental risk factors associated with infection.

Emergence of Novel Psychoactive Substance injecting associated with rapid rise in the population prevalence of hepatitis C virus.

Background: Novel Psychoactive Substance (NPS) use has increased in recent years and generated significant concern within public health. People who inject drugs (PWID) are at increased risk of blood borne viruses, in particular Hepatitis C virus (HCV). However, little is known about the extent of NPS injecting at a national level and its association with HCV.

The experiences of people who inject drugs of skin and soft tissue infections and harm reduction: A qualitative study.

Background: Bacterial skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) among people who inject drugs (PWID) are considered a public health concern. There is a lack of qualitative research examining the lived experience of PWID who have had SSTI. This paper explores PWID views and experiences of their SSTI, their perceptions on the causes of their SSTI and their harm reduction (HR) behaviours.

"Once I'd done it once it was like writing your name": Lived experience of take-home naloxone administration by people who inject drugs.

Background: The supply of naloxone, the opioid antagonist, for peer administration ('take-home naloxone' (THN)) has been promoted as a means of preventing opioid-related deaths for over 20 years. Despite this, little is known about PWID experiences of take-home naloxone administration. The aim of this study was to advance the evidence base on THN by producing one of the first examinations of the lived-experience of THN use among PWID.

Modelling the impact of a national scale-up of interventions on hepatitis C virus transmission among people who inject drugs in Scotland.

Background And Aims: To reduce hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission among people who inject drugs (PWID), Scottish Government-funded national strategies, launched in 2008, promoted scaling-up opioid substitution therapy (OST) and needle and syringe provision (NSP), with some increases in HCV treatment. We test whether observed decreases in HCV incidence post-2008 can be attributed to this intervention scale-up.

Design: A dynamic HCV transmission model among PWID incorporating intervention scale-up and observed decreases in behavioural risk, calibrated to Scottish HCV prevalence and incidence data for 2008/09.

Impact of current and scaled-up levels of hepatitis C prevention and treatment interventions for people who inject drugs in three UK settings-what is required to achieve the WHO's HCV elimination targets?

Aims: To estimate the impact of existing high-coverage needle and syringe provision (HCNSP, defined as obtaining more than one sterile needle and syringe per injection reported) and opioid substitution therapy (OST) on hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission among people who inject drugs (PWID) in three UK settings and to determine required scale-up of interventions, including HCV treatment, needed to reach the World Health Organization (WHO) target of reducing HCV incidence by 90% by 2030.

Design: HCV transmission modelling using UK empirical estimates for effect of OST and/or HCNSP on individual risk of HCV acquisition.

Setting And Participants: Three UK cities with varying chronic HCV prevalence (Bristol 45%, Dundee 26%, Walsall 19%), OST (72-81%) and HCNSP coverage (28-56%).

Determinants of hepatitis C antiviral effectiveness awareness among people who inject drugs in the direct-acting antiviral era.

Background & Aims: Although people who inject drugs (PWID) are at greatest risk of hepatitis C (HCV), treatment uptake in this population has historically been low. Highly effective direct acting antiviral (DAA) treatments for HCV have recently become available. Our aim was to assess the awareness among PWID of these new therapies and their effectiveness.

Correction to: Psychiatric comorbidity and intimate partner violence among women who inject drugs in Europe: a cross-sectional study.

The original version of this article unfortunately missed the Acknowledgment.

Spore forming bacteria infections and people who inject drugs: Implications for harm reduction.

Background: There is no research on public health interventions that alert people who inject drugs (PWID) to clusters/outbreaks of severe bacterial infections. In Scotland, during the botulism cluster/outbreak of Dec 2014-July 2015 harm reduction (HR) messages detailed on a postcard (Botulism Postcard) were distributed to PWID between Feb-April 2015. We examined the impact of the Botulism Postcard on cluster/outbreak awareness, healthcare seeking and HR behaviours among PWID; and their views on such clusters/outbreaks.

Psychiatric comorbidity and intimate partner violence among women who inject drugs in Europe: a cross-sectional study.

Women who inject drugs (WWID) are an especially vulnerable group of drug users. This study determined the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity and intimate partrner violence (IPV), and factors associated with psychiatric comorbidity among WWID recruited from drug treatment services (67%) and harm reduction services in five European regions in Austria, Catalonia, Italy, Poland, and Scotland. Psychiatric comorbidity was assessed among 226 WWID using the Dual Diagnosis Screening Instrument.

Preventing blood-borne virus infection in people who inject drugs in the UK: systematic review, stakeholder interviews, psychosocial intervention development and feasibility randomised controlled trial.

Background: Opioid substitution therapy and needle exchanges have reduced blood-borne viruses (BBVs) among people who inject drugs (PWID). Some PWID continue to share injecting equipment.

Objectives: To develop an evidence-based psychosocial intervention to reduce BBV risk behaviours and increase transmission knowledge among PWID, and conduct a feasibility trial among PWID comparing the intervention with a control.

Needle syringe programmes and opioid substitution therapy for preventing hepatitis C transmission in people who inject drugs.

Background: Needle syringe programmes and opioid substitution therapy for preventing hepatitis C transmission in people who inject drugsNeedle syringe programmes (NSP) and opioid substitution therapy (OST) are the primary interventions to reduce hepatitis C (HCV) transmission in people who inject drugs. There is good evidence for the effectiveness of NSP and OST in reducing injecting risk behaviour and increasing evidence for the effectiveness of OST and NSP in reducing HIV acquisition risk, but the evidence on the effectiveness of NSP and OST for preventing HCV acquisition is weak.

Objectives: To assess the effects of needle syringe programmes and opioid substitution therapy, alone or in combination, for preventing acquisition of HCV in people who inject drugs.

Needle and syringe programmes and opioid substitution therapy for preventing HCV transmission among people who inject drugs: findings from a Cochrane Review and meta-analysis.

Aims: To estimate the effects of needle and syringe programmes (NSP) and opioid substitution therapy (OST), alone or in combination, for preventing acquisition of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in people who inject drugs (PWID).

Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Bibliographic databases were searched for studies measuring concurrent exposure to current OST (within the last 6 months) and/or NSP and HCV incidence among PWID.

Association between universal hepatitis B prison vaccination, vaccine uptake and hepatitis B infection among people who inject drugs.

Background And Aims: In Scotland, hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination for all prisoners was introduced in 1999; here, we examine the impact of this programme among people who inject drugs (PWID) in the community. This study aimed to compare rates of HBV vaccine uptake before and after implementation of the prison programme and to estimate the determinants of vaccine uptake, the levels of ever/current HBV infection and the associations between vaccine uptake and ever/current HBV infection.

Design: Data collected via serial cross-sectional surveys were used to compare the proportion who reported being vaccinated over time.

The acceptability and feasibility of a brief psychosocial intervention to reduce blood-borne virus risk behaviours among people who inject drugs: a randomised control feasibility trial of a psychosocial intervention (the PROTECT study) versus treatment as usual.

Background: While opiate substitution therapy and injecting equipment provision (IEP) have reduced blood-borne viruses (BBV) among people who inject drugs (PWID), some PWID continue to share injecting equipment and acquire BBV. Psychosocial interventions that address risk behaviours could reduce BBV transmission among PWID.

Methods: A pragmatic, two-armed randomised controlled, open feasibility study of PWID attending drug treatment or IEP in four UK regions.

Association between harm reduction intervention uptake and skin and soft tissue infections among people who inject drugs.

Background: Bacterial skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are a health issue for people who inject drugs (PWID). There is a lack of evidence on the associations between harm reduction (HR) uptake and SSTIs. This paper examines the associations between the uptake of injecting equipment (IE) and opiate substitution treatment (OST) on SSTIs among PWID, and the injecting behaviours associated with having had an SSTI.

Modelling the impact of incarceration and prison-based hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment on HCV transmission among people who inject drugs in Scotland.

Background And Aims: People who inject drugs (PWID) experience high incarceration rates, and previous incarceration is associated with elevated hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission risk. In Scotland, national survey data indicate lower HCV incidence in prison than the community (4.3 versus 7.

Effectiveness of needle/syringe programmes and opiate substitution therapy in preventing HCV transmission among people who inject drugs.

Unlabelled: This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To assess the impact of needle/syringe programmes with and without opiate substitution therapy (OST) on the incidence of HCV infection among people who inject drugs (PWID).To assess the effect of OST alone on the incidence of HCV infection among PWID.

Engagement in a National Naloxone Programme among people who inject drugs.

Background: Availability of the opioid antagonist naloxone for lay administration has grown substantially since first proposed in 1996. Gaps remain, though, in our understanding of how people who inject drugs (PWID) engage with naloxone programmes over time.

Aims: This paper aimed to address three specific evidence gaps: the extent of naloxone supply to PWID; supply-source (community or prisons); and the carriage of naloxone among PWID.

Expansion of HCV treatment access to people who have injected drugs through effective translation of research into public health policy: Scotland's experience.

Seven years have elapsed since the Scottish Government launched its Hepatitis C Action Plan - a Plan to improve services to prevent transmission of infection, particularly among people who inject drugs (PWID), identify those infected and ensure those infected receive optimal treatment. The Plan was underpinned by industrial scale funding (around £100 million, in addition to the general NHS funding, will have been invested by 2015), and a web of accountable national and local multi-disciplinary multi-agency networks responsible for the planning, development and delivery of services. Initiatives ranged from the introduction of testing in specialist drug services through finger-prick blood sampling by non-clinical staff, to the setting of government targets to ensure rapid scale-up of antiviral therapy.

'Allowing the right' and its currency in managing drug stigma in Greece.

Background: Evidence suggests that problem drug users are still subject to high levels of stigmatization. In countries, like Greece, where families occupy a central position and honour is collectively attained, secondary drug stigma is also highly prevalent. However, little is known about how drug users and their families manage drug stigma in the specific cultural milieu that makes up Greece.